Recently Yooz and Active4all helped an underprivileged Cambodian school by donating £300 towards the cost of electrical fans, materials to upgrade the school's electrical system and teaching supplies. Yooz volunteer Mark and his partner Kirsty went to Cambodia for five weeks to teach English at a deprived local school in the heart of Siem Reap. Mark, a qualified electrician, also volunteered to install fans in the school's four self built classrooms and also offered to help upgrade the school electrics that were already in place. The fans were a welcome addition for the children as often they found it hard to concentrate in the muggy, tropical temperatures and the stifling heat of the classrooms (temperatures were often in the high 30s). Additionally the improvements made to the school's electrical system made the building much safer for both the children and the teachers.
I will offer a quick overview into the recent history of Cambodia for those of you who are unaware; in the 1970s the notorious Khmer Rouge took over as the governing body after a long battle with the American backed government led by Lon Nol, the new party brought the nation to its knees. In the four years that the Khmer Rouge held power they killed a large proportion of the nation and set up many concentration camps throughout the country. These camps were overpopulated and allowed life threatening diseases to spread easily between the workers, many of whom were beaten to death or died of malnutrition and illness; another horrific side effect of the regime was that, in relocating the entire population to the countryside, Cambodia's urban infrastructure crumbled. Because of the disastrous Khmer Rouge revolution over 30 years ago, Cambodia is still today a very poor developing country (the average income per day is £0.60) and in the Siem Reap area the main hope of employment is found in the tourism industry. As a person if you cannot speak English you will live below the poverty line forever.
Mark and Kirsty worked in a school called Smiling Hearts that was set up by a kind hearted local woman called Ali who wanted to give the children in her local community a better chance of succeeding in life. Ali built four classrooms in her back garden to help teach 100 children to learn valuable English language skills that will prove essential to help them later in life when looking for jobs.
As the Cambodian government offers very little funding for children's education Smiling Hearts school relies solely on donations and is constantly in need of more funding for supplies and, more importantly, is in need of English speaking volunteers to help teach the children. Volunteer teachers do not require any formal qualifications and simply need to possess a willingness to help teach these poor, but resilient, children. For more information about the Smiling Hearts school (S.H.A.C.) contact mark@yooz.me or visit http://shac-smilinghearts.org. Mark and Kirsty were helped placed at Smiling Hearts school through the website www.aboutasiaschools.org - one of the few organisations abroad offering free voluntary teaching placements.